Miles – 51
Ave Riding Speed – 6-24 mph
Hours Start to Finish – 6.5
Weather – Sunny and 80
Kim and I rose from a cool, goodnights sleep, at 6:30am. First thing we did was throw on our winter jackets for the walk to the bathrooms on the other side of the RV camping area. The his and hers rustic bathroom building included his and hers showers and a coin operated laundry room. When we returned to our camp, we started pulling our gear together while remembering what things went in what bags. About 7am, Colton rolled out the back of his pickup bed and headed for the shower. He was going straight to work.
Our plan was for all of us to drop by the little camp store for coffee at 8am and hit the road together. Our tent was still a little damp from the morning dew, so we spread it out in the open field to catch the morning sun and dry it off and we all marched up for coffee. I also had to load my blog. I’ve been posting them in the morning as the little shop is only open till 7pm.
Colton had to get moving for a big meeting this morning, so we hugged and he drove off for the 1.5-hour drive back to work. We’re are planning to see him in Minnesota in September.
After thanking our hosts we rolled up our tent and got Hwy 287 headed to Yellowstone. The 32-mile route along the Madison River was exceptional. We passed Earthquake Lake, formed after an Earthquake in the 1920’s. It was a tragedy as 28 campers and home owners along the Madison River lost their lives. Kim and I stopped at a roadside turnout to read up on it, but I forgot to take a picture for the details and I have no internet tonight.
We passed along Hebgen Lake and up to the “T” in the road where we met up with Hwy 191/287. 8.6-miles south we rolled into West Yellow Stone at 1pm. We stopped at the local grocery store for our go-to camping food, peanut butter, jelly and hamburger buns with Fritos. Kim also grabbed some lunch meat, cheese and mustard for lunch sandwiches, which we at while sitting on a bench outside the grocery store.
A couple of national park service women came out of the store and the young lady, who had been on the job for 2 weeks, asked me where we’re heading. She explained that she just got a new gravel bike and was excited for us. I asked if there was anything special, we need to know about getting into Yellowstone on a bike and if we needed to wait in the car line. She was familiar with that yet so she asked her coworker. When she returned, she recommended that we buy our passes only and roll up to the gate and flash our receipts to the gate folks. So, I did just that, I purchased our $20 passes on line.
Kim and rode to the gate and there we no cars waiting in line. We stopped at the gate and flashed the receipt on our cellphone and the gate lady asked us if we planned to stay in the park tonight. We said yes, one night at the Madison Campground where we hope they have a hiker/biker space open. She said to be careful with the traffic and wished us well.
I mentioned to Kim that every time we come in from the West Entrance and cruise the 14-miles to the Madison stop sign, that people must be saying what I’ve said, “Is this it?” IT’s beautiful, but nothing breathtaking. The good stuff is down the road and deeper in the park.
We rolled into the Madison Campground at 3:30pm and walked up to the station and asked if they had any hiker/biker sites available. Bingo! We scored a site right behind the station and setup camp in between the pines. The smell of the pine trees is awesome!
After setting up our site and storing our food, supplements, water and toiletries, we walked to the bathrooms, very clean, and to the little hut that has things like charcoal, wine, pop and snacks. We grabbed some salsa and a Sprite.
We’re hanging at our site and met Sophie, who arrived after us. She is bicycling from Yorktown, Virginia, our destination, to Astoria, OR, and left in April. We haven’t got her story yet, but it’s pretty amazing that she is doing the route solo. Tomorrow we hope to get an early start and make it through the south entrance tomorrow, about 55miles south and find a place to camp tomorrow. We’ll see if we get moving and beat some of the traffic.
